Superman Returns

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Superman Returns

Released

June 28, 2006

Directed by

Bryan Singer

Written by

Bryan Singer, Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris

Music by

John Ottman

Duration

154 min

Studio

Warner Bros. Pictures

Rated

PG-13

Budget

$204 million

Revenue

$391,081,192

Superman Returns is an Academy Award-nominated 2006 superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Superman. It was directed by Bryan Singer and stars Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth and Kevin Spacey. The screenplay was written by Michael Dougherty & Dan Harris, based on a story by Bryan Singer, Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty.

Filming began in February 2005, and the movie was released in the United States on June 28, 2006 after sixteen months of filming and production. It was the first theatrical Superman film since 1987's Superman IV: The Quest For Peace. The film received mostly positive critical reviews and grossed over $391 million worldwide.

The film revolves around Superman's return to Earth after a five-year absence. He re-assumes his secret identity of Clark Kent, and discovers that Lois Lane—now in a "prolonged engagement"—has a five-year-old son. Superman's nemesis, arch-villain Lex Luthor has devised a new plan to defeat Superman. Director Bryan Singer has said that the continuity is "taking off from the first two Superman films with Christopher Reeve", which serve as its back-story, or as he put it, a "vague history". Marlon Brando's role as Superman's biological father Jor-El is reprised with the help of computer-generated imagery and earlier footage.

Contents

Plot

Opening titles reveal Superman has been missing for five years after astronomers discovered the remains of Krypton. He returns to Earth with his spacecraft crashing back into his adoptive mother's crop field, and awakes the next morning reminiscing of his childhood. He returns to work as Clark Kent at The Daily Planet in Metropolis, where he learns Lois Lane is now a mother and has won the Pulitzer Prize for her article Why the World Doesn't Need Superman. During Superman's absence, Lex Luthor has been released from prison, conned a rich widow into a sham wedding to get his hands on her money, and stolen Kryptonian crystals from the Fortress of Solitude. Luthor returns to Metropolis and experiments with a tiny fragment in a pool which grows to immense size. The growing crystal causes a blackout, affecting the take off of a space shuttle-like vehicle tethered to a Boeing 777, which Lois Lane is aboard, covering the story. Clark flies into action as Superman and stops the plane from crashing into a baseball field.

The world rejoices in Superman's return, but Lois is more concerned with the blackout. Clark meets her fiancé Richard White, nephew of Daily Planet editor-in-chief Perry White, and their son Jason. Superman is hurt when he overhears a conversation between Lois and Richard in which she says she never loved Superman. He buries himself in his work, including halting a bank heist and saving Kitty, Luthor's co-conspirator. While Kitty distracts Superman, Luthor steals kryptonite from a museum. Perry assigns Lois to interview Superman whilst Clark investigates the blackout. At night, Lois goes out for a smoke on top of the The Daily Planet and Superman takes her for a flight, during which he apologizes for leaving her.

After her latest Superman interview, Lois focuses her attention on the blackout again and learns where it started. Lois and Jason sneak onto Luthor's ship, not realizing who owns it, and are captured. Luthor reveals his grand scheme: using one of the stolen Kryptonian crystals to grow a new landmass, even though he is aware it will destroy already existing continents and kill billions. He also inquires as to who is the father of Jason after noticing Lois' reaction to the kryptonite being near her son. Luthor launches the crystal (now encased in kryptonite) into the sea, causing a chain reaction resulting in its massive growth. Lois faxes their co-ordinates to The Daily Planet and is attacked by a henchman. Jason throws a piano at him in an apparent display of super strength, and after hearing news of the incident, Luthor imprisons them in a galley as he escapes in a helicopter. The landmass' growth causes destruction in Metropolis which Superman attends to, and Richard arrives in a sea plane to rescue Lois and Jason from the ship, which splits in half and sinks with them trapped inside. Superman rescues them and he flies off to find Luthor, who has returned to the landmass.

Meeting Luthor, Superman discovers the landmass is filled with kryptonite, which allows Luthor and his henchmen to beat and torture him. Luthor stabs Superman with a shard of kryptonite, after which he falls into the ocean. Lois makes Richard turn back to rescue Superman, and she removes the kryptonite shard from his back. Superman regains consciousness, gathers more energy from the Sun, and lifts the landmass into the atmosphere. Luthor and Kitty escape in their helicopter, but not before Kitty tosses the crystals; she and Luthor are stranded on a desert island some time later. Superman throws the landmass into space, but weakened by the kryptonite, crash lands back to Metropolis. The doctors cannot penetrate his body with their medical equipment, but manage to remove the rest of the kryptonite from his wound. While Superman remains in a coma, Lois and Jason visit Superman at the hospital, where, careful not to let Jason overhear, Lois whispers a secret in Superman's ear. Superman later awakens and flies to see Jason, reciting his father's last speech to him as he sleeps. Lois also starts writing Why the World Needs Superman.

Production

X-Men director Bryan Singer turned down directing X-Men 3 to direct Superman Returns. Because of his Academy Award-winning performance in Singer's film The Usual Suspects and friendship with the director, Kevin Spacey was immediately cast as Luthor. He in turn suggested Kate Bosworth, who played his wife, Sandra Dee, in the film Beyond the Sea, for Lois Lane, and she was hired after Singer saw her screen-test. Singer, unlike previous directors, stated his Superman, like Christopher Reeve, should be an unknown. After viewing hundreds of auditions and casting calls from the previous directors who were attached, he found a 24-year-old bartender from Iowa named Brandon Routh, whose mid-western roots and meekness seemed to fit Clark Kent's bumbling persona and his frame and charisma suited the role of Superman. Routh got the part after a meeting with Singer, spilling a drink on the director in the process, which a panicked Routh believed to have cost him the part. Nevertheless, the misfortune, Singer admitted, is what helped him choose Routh because he saw Clark's clumsiness in the young actor. In 2005, Brandon Routh was introduced for the first time to the media as the new Man of Steel.

Rather than adapt an existing storyline, Singer chose to write a draft of an original story. With his previous writers from X2, Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty, Singer created a script that tied into Superman and Superman II. His first draft included the character of General Zod, whom he wanted to be played by Jude Law, his first and only choice for the role. When Law turned down the part three times, Singer eliminated the character from the script. The most difficult challenge, he admits, was finding the obstacle that would be impossible for Superman to overcome: the passage of time and change. According to Singer, Lois' son Jason is a permanent reminder of this.

While Superman's costume has undergone a variety of changes over the decades, the costume in this movie has been updated for the 21st century and clearly has modern and retro influences. The color scheme is darkened several shades so that bright primary colors are less visible and the material has a deep, webbed texture that is visible on close-up shots. The Superman chest emblem is now a much smaller raised 3D-piece. At San Diego Comic Con 2005, Bryan Singer stated that the original silk-screened emblem looks like a billboard, while the new shield has an advanced alien look. The emblem itself is embossed with hundreds of smaller emblems.

The cape does not sport the large yellow and black emblem, and it now has a visible liner of a different material. The neck-line of Superman's top has been changed from a wide scoop-neck to a crew-neck cut. The boots have also been changed, they are now a shorter, mid-calf length with a slightly rubbery appearance for the sole as well as the Superman emblem in varying sizes on the bottom. Finally, the belt and buckle are changed to include the addition of the Superman emblem for the buckle. Several of these changes were inspired by the Superman costume from Superman cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios in the 40s, that was inspired by the original Golden Age comics Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

The film initially was speculated as having a budget as high as US$260,000,000,[4] which would have made it the 2nd most expensive film ever (as of August 2006). However, director Bryan Singer initially debunked this figure, claiming it was "a little lower than $200,000,000". He had supposedly admitted that the former amount was closer if not slightly less than the full amount spent, according to a statement made by Rotten Tomatoes. There is controversy over Singer's supposed admission, though, which took place during an episode of Sunday Morning Shootout. Co-host Peter Guber stated a figure that was referring to the total cost of bringing Superman back to the big screen from Burton to Singer rather than a budget overrun on the current production. Singer's statement that it was "more than that" was a reference to the same scenario.

According to various articles, the development process had utilized "pay or play" contracts, meaning that those involved were paid even if production did not commence as planned. According to Variety, these development costs exceeded $40 million before Bryan Singer came aboard.Template:Fact On the site TheNumbers.com, Bryan Singer was quoted as saying the budget for Superman Returns was $250 million in late 2004. He later denied that figure. In February 2006, Warner Bros. had unofficially put the budget at $184 million, "factoring in tax breaks offered in Australia." In a July 2006 interview with Newsweek, Bryan Singer quoted the final production budget number as $204 million. On October 30, Variety reported that studio placed the cost at $209 million after factoring in tax rebates and incentives.

Filming

Shooting of Superman Returns began during February 2005 in Australia, on locations that included a farm outside of the regional town of Gunnedah in North West NSW and Sydney. Other scenes were shot in various parts of the United States. The film was shot entirely on high-definition video using Panavision Genesis cameras. Singer said the first cut of the movie was 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Visual effects

Using footage from the original Superman film as a reference point, Marlon Brando was re-created using computer technology. In addition to the footage, photography was also scanned using a cyberscan and a lumpisheric scan to re-create Brando's appearance. In June 2006, Rhythm and Hues, the studio that created the special effect, released a video detailing the process. The video is available on the 2-Disc special edition DVD release of the film, but different music plays and the video ends with credits.

The opening credits for Superman Returns are presented in a deliberate recreation of the style used for Superman, again to the accompaniment of John Williams' theme music. However, the new graphics differ in several respects. They are of a duller shade of blue (changing to red for Brandon Routh's and Kate Bosworth's credits) and lack the 'soaring' sound effect that accompanies their predecessors. They are also of a taller font, with some letters visibly conjoined. In addition, whereas the originals change direction (zooming away from the viewer after the appearance of the 'S' symbol), the new ones consistently travel towards the audience. Because of the number of co-production credits that precede it, the 'S' symbol arrives slightly later on screen. The camera flies through space at breakneck speed throughout the entire sequence, following the path of Superman's return to Earth from Krypton. The sequence was designed by Kyle Cooper.

References to the Christopher Reeve films

Superman Returns has similarities with the James Bond series of films in that it is implied that it shares common continuity with earlier films, despite the change of actors in key roles and time-setting. The most noticeable of these links is the use of John Williams' original themes from Superman, much as Bond films continued to reference the original "James Bond Theme", and the use of Brando's voice and archive footage. A more subtle reference is the appearance of a photograph of Glenn Ford as Clark's now-deceased adopted father Jonathan Kent (a deleted scene included on the DVD release gives a clearer view of this image); Ford had played the role in the original film. Other links to the previous films include Luthor's "affinity for beachfront property" which is a continuation of his original scheme from the first film (his quoting of his father's words of advice echoes similar dialog spoken by the Gene Hackman version of the character in the first film), and Superman's encounter with Lois on the rooftop which echoes their first romantic encounter. Luthor also shows knowledge of the workings of the Fortress of Solitude, as he had previously visited the place in Superman II, though when asked if he'd been there before, he does not answer. The kryptonite meteorite in the museum is labelled as having been found in Addis Ababa in 1978 -- the same location where the kryptonite meteorite was accessed by Luthor in the first film (released in 1978). The revelation that Jason is Superman's son ties in with the sexual encounter between Superman and Lois that occurs in Superman II. The presence of Martha Kent indicates that the events of Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, in which Martha has died, have been discounted. In the behind-the-scenes featurettes included on the DVD release, the writers and director specifically indicate they approached Superman Returns as a sequel to the first film and, to a lesser degree, Superman II. The opening title sequence is the same as the original, except it is reverse with the text zooming in with the swish and zooming out as normal text.

Another referenced scene occurs when the 777 jet is landed in the baseball field and Superman asks the crew if "everyone is all right?" Following a very brief reunion with Lois, Superman then switches to the comic style superhero and states almost word for word, Reeve's line in the original film: "Well, I hope this experience hasn't put any of you off flying. Statistically speaking, it's still the safest way to travel." After the flyway at this point, Lois faints as she also does in the original Donner film.

Promotion

Warner Brothers promoted Superman Returns very heavily prior to its cinematic release. During production, Singer released a series of 'video diaries' on the internet at BlueTights.net, giving almost unprecedented up-to-date insight into the behind-the-scenes work being done on what would normally be a very secretive production. However, after 27 installments, the video diaries stopped for a while shortly before the teaser trailer debuted. On November 17, 2005, Warner Bros. released the teaser trailer, containing John Williams' music and Marlon Brando's dialogue from Superman. The main theatrical trailer premiered online on May 2, 2006. It appeared in theatres on May 5, 2006, along with prints of Mission: Impossible 3. On May 19, 2006 with UK prints of The Da Vinci Code, the studio released the film's international trailer. A second full version was issued with some prints of X-Men: The Last Stand on May 26, 2006. A third trailer appeared on the film's new official website in June, 2006. It also appeared online before the new site came on in the end of May.

Warner Bros rolled out an immense list of tie in products and companies which included General Mills, Burger King, Duracell, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Lays, Fritos, Doritos, Papa Johns, 7/11, and Colgate. Waners Bros advertised the movie on the Red Bull Racing Formula One cars for the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix; David Coulthard managed to get the team's first podium that day as well. On the podium, Coulthard also wore a Superman cape in celebration of his achievement. NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon also sported the "Man of Steel" look by promoting the movie on his #24 Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the 2006 Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

During the weekend of August 4-6th Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox), attired in ‘Superman Returns’ leathers and artwork, scored the race one win at Brands Hatch in the UK, where 115,000 spectators enjoyed the race action over the entire weekend.

On May 11, 2006 Warner Bros began a campaign of nine different television commercials, and released eleven clips of Superman Returns through various websites midway through June. The iTunes Music Store also released an exclusive premiere scene, and was first made available on June 20, 2006, and continues to be available at apple.com.

Documentary

Look, Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman, a documentary covering the history of the Superman franchise, was released just prior to the film. Along with input from Bryan Singer, the documentary contains commentary from other past and present actors, directors, writers, artists, and fans, and was narrated by Kevin Spacey.

IMAX 3D release

Superman Returns: An IMAX 3D Experience was released simultaneously in 111 IMAX format theatres world-wide, which (in some theaters) included approximately 26 minutes of specially converted 3D material. It is the first Hollywood live-action film to be released in this combined format. The movie has on-screen cues so moviegoers will know when to put on and remove 3D glasses. The scenes featured were 'Memories' (back on the farm), 'Rough Flight' (catching the jet), 'Saving The Lanes' (raising the stricken yacht) and 'Fly Away' (credits flightpast). The most recent 3D films to do this theatrically were Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over and The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D, but these films were not displayed in IMAX or in polarized 3D; instead they were released in anaglyph format, for budgetary reasons and also to aid transition of format to DVD. It is therefore unlikely that this version of Superman will see the light of day outside of an IMAX theatre in the near future.

For certain theatres, especially IMAX Dome theatres which are unable to support 3D film, the film was shown in 2D. However, only certain seats in the theatre would provide full views of the screen, due to its large and curving nature. Some of these theatres received complaints and requests for refunds by audience members who thought that they would be seeing a 3D version of the film.

Superman Returns: An IMAX 3D Experience had grossed over $30 million as of September 2006 from IMAX theatres worldwide, a record for the format. The performance in many worldwide markets was also remarkable, with strong box office receipts for a run of more than 13 weeks.

Though the film was shot at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia, Superman Returns was not released in any Australian IMAX cinemas.

Prequels

DC Comics, Superman's publisher, released four prequel titles throughout June 2006 to tie in with the movie. The four 40-page editions served to bridge the story of Superman II and Superman Returns and are entitled Krypton to Earth (which reintroduces the origin from the 1978 Film, with Jor-El as the main protagonist), Ma Kent (in which Martha Kent recalls finding her son, his life growing up, and contemplates if she'll ever see him again), Lex Luthor (discussing Lex Luthor's time in jail, how he met Kitty and Gertrude Vanderworth (the old rich woman) and Lois Lane (going over Lois' heartbreaking loss of the Man of Steel, her first meeting with Richard, and the birth of Jason).

Adaptations

DC Comics also released a comic adaptation of the movie written by Martin Pasko and illustrated by Matt Haley. The story in the adaptation only focuses on the core story, and does not have any mention of the possibility that Jason is the son of Superman. However, the comic does include scenes from Superman's journey in Krypton, unrealized scenes shot for the movie. The novelization by Marv Wolfman was published by Warner Books on 1 June, 2006. The novelization does not link Jason to Superman. Brutus is killed by Lois by pulling a bookcase down onto his head, snapping his neck. However, just like in the movie, it is Jason who finds Superman near-drowning.

Sequel

Prior to the debut of Superman Returns in the United Kingdom, Brandon Routh hinted at the possibility of the sequel at a press conference, saying "At the end of this film we see that there is so much more to explore." Newsarama reported from the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con that director Bryan Singer had been in talks to direct a sequel for 2009. According to the article, Singer said that while Superman Returns allowed him to introduce the cast, the sequel would allow him to 'go Wrath of Khan on it.' He added that there would be an alien villain. In another interview on Superherohype.com, Singer indicated a possible return of the New Krypton island.

On August 18 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported that Warner president Alan Horn thought that Superman Returns "was a very successful movie" and that he was planning on a sequel for 2009.Template:Fact It had been thought that a Superman Returns sequel hinged on the film's domestic box office performance, with some media outlets suggesting that Warner Bros. wanted it to take in at least $200 million in the United States for a sequel to get the green light. The film officially passed the $200 million domestic mark on October 22 2006. On October 25 2006, IESB.net reported that a deal between director Bryan Singer and Warner Bros. had been finalized for a sequel. The budget will reportedly be reduced; however, the existing sets would contribute to lower costs across the board for the upcoming movie. In addition any sunk costs for the abortive sequels in the 1990s would not be included in the budget. The sequel is expected to be more action focused than its predecessor.

The working title for the sequel has been reported, and neither confirmed nor denied, as Superman: The Man of Steel. The focus will be on a tighter story with more villains and bigger action sequences.

Current talk states that Warner Bros. is also contemplating fast tracking the long-planned Justice League film including Superman as the league's iconic leader, possibly before the solo sequel. However, this doesn't impact Routh playing Superman in the future.

DVD release

The DVD release of Superman Returns was released on November 28, 2006. There are two versions available: a single-disc version as well as a 2-disc Special Edition.

The single-disc edition has no extra features, while the 2-disc edition has over 3 hours of bonus material, including deleted scenes and a behind-the-scenes documentary titled Requiem for Krypton: Making Superman Returns, created by Ludovico Technique. Requiem for Krypton, which accounts for nearly all of the three hours of bonus features (thereby making it actually longer than the film being profiled), ends with a blooper reel from the film, including outtakes from scenes not in the theatrical release of the film, culminating in a rare outtake featuring Marlon Brando.

The Special Edition release of the film is also included in the 14-disc Ultimate Superman Collection. Alongside the four original Christopher Reeve films it features Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut as well as Look, Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman and other documentaries. One of the DVDs in the Ultimate Collection set consists of Singer's Internet video blog entries.

Superman Returns was also released on HD DVD (which features standard-def on the disc's opposite side) and Blu-ray Disc. The film became the best-selling DVD of 2006 on amazon.com in both the HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats.

Easter eggs

There is one easter egg found on each of the discs included in the 2-disc Special Edition. The first (also available on the single disc version) is a cheat code for the video game that will allow the player to play as Bizarro. The second egg features several takes of Kevin Spacey yelling "wrong".

Original Soundtrack release

A soundtrack album assembled by composer John Ottman was released June 27 2006 by Warner Sunset Records / Rhino Entertainment. It contained over 55 minutes of the original score as well as some Enhanced CD multimedia content, including two trailers and a "Behind the Scenes" piece on the recording of the score, which includes the film take on the main titles which is edited on this album with the end credits to create the "Superman March," which does not appear in its entirety in the film.

Main Titles (3:49)

Memories (3:07)

Rough Flight (5:13)

Little Secrets/Power Of The Sun (2:49)

Bank Job (2:21)

How Could You Leave Us? (5:49)

Tell Me Everything (3:13)

You're Not One Of Them (2:22)

Not Like The Train Set (5:12)

So Long Superman (5:31)

The People You Care For (3:27)

I Wanted You To Know (2:56)

Saving The World (3:12)

In The Hands Of Mortals (2:11)

Reprise/Fly Away (4:15)

Tracks do not appear in the order that they occur in the film, but instead in a succession chosen by Ottman for listening purposes. Listeners interested in hearing the selections in score order may program the album thus: 1, 7, 2, 3, 8, 5, 4 (to 1:02), 6, 9, 10, 11, 4 (from 1:02), 13, 14, 12, 15.

Music not included in the soundtrack

There are several famous songs featured in the film but not included on the soundtrack album, which concentrated on the original score composed by John Ottman with themes from John Williams' score for the original 1978 film.

According to the timeline they appear in the movie, the source music included:

There are also quite a few pieces from the score that weren't included on the album.

At the beginning of the film, Ottman adapted the opening of Williams' "The Planet Krypton" from Superman, but added a choir.

The main titles is a different edit than what appears on the album, segueing directly from the primary "Superman" portion of the march to the "Can You Read My Mind" section. The final fanfare ends on a different note than Williams' original version.

There is a quiet piece for the death of Gertrude Vanderworth, which is followed by the introduction of Lex Luthor's motif. While Lex's motif is heard throughout the album, it is only rarely heard in its 'pure' form, as it is here.

After Superman rescues the airplane, a reprise of "The Fortress of Solitude" from Williams' original 1978 score is heard as he asks after Lois' well-being.

From 00:21:26 to 00:21:56, a John Ottman original is used when Clark Kent first goes back to Daily Planet until he catches Jimmy Olsen's falling camera.

From 00:59:40 to 01:00:36, a John Ottman original is used when Lex Luthor and his thugs prepares to steal kryptonite from Metropolis Museum of National History.

From 02:34:00 to 02:37:00 A John Ottman original is used in one of the final scenes in the film, where Superman is giving the Jor-El speech to Jason.

The end titles version of the march is combined with the main title on the album, but in the film the conclusion is much more like Williams' conclusion for the 1978 film's end title march, with the final fanfare ending in a tail that leads up to a crescendo.